Dive Brief:
- Among students who entered college in fall 2019, 61.1% earned a credential within six years, according to a report released Thursday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. That's 0.3 percentage points lower than the rate seen among the fall 2018 cohort, according to the latest data.
- The newest college completion data also showed that full-time students faced better odds of graduating than part-time students. Those attending college full time who started in fall 2019 were almost twice as likely to graduate within six years compared to part-time students — 67.1% versus 34.1%, respectively.
- Whether students took college classes in high school also affected their likelihood of earning credentials. The six-year completion rate among prior dual enrollment students was 71.1%, compared to 57.2% among those who took their first postsecondary course in college.
Dive Insight:
Thursday’s report broadly shared good news for students, as the 2019 cohort becomes the fourth group in a row to see a completion rate above 61%.
Doug Shapiro, executive director of the research center, said that the recent stability in completion rates reflects “the day‑to‑day efforts of students and institutions to maintain progress toward credentials in a changing environment.”
“Students who started in fall 2019 faced the challenges of the pandemic beginning in their second semester, so the fact that their completion rates remain at recent highs underscores the remarkable strength of our higher education ecosystem," he said in a Thursday statement.
Still, discrepancies remain in which students successfully make it over the finish line.
Along with full-time status and prior dual enrollment, students' gender, age at the time of enrollment and economic background were linked to their likelihood of graduating, the clearinghouse found.
College women have consistently reported stronger completion rates, and the fall 2019 cohort continued the trend. Some 64.3% of them graduated within six years, compared to 58.1% of college men.
Among students who first entered college when they were 20 years old or younger, 63.8% earned a credential within six years. For those aged 21 to 24 when they enrolled, just 35.6% could say the same. The completion rate for students 25 and older was 36.6%.
And students from the top 25% wealthiest neighborhoods were nearly 26 percentage points more likely to graduate within six years compared to those from the bottom 25% of neighborhoods — 75.9% and 50.1%, respectively.
